


to fade

by irieora



Series: wilting roses [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: BOM! Keith, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Season 4 Spoilers, Shiro's perspective, The Blade of Marmora - Freeform, inbetween and post season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-22 22:19:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12492048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irieora/pseuds/irieora
Summary: Keith's interactions with the team after he leaves to join the Blade of Marmora.





	to fade

The first week Keith’s gone, they received video calls daily. Checking in on the progress of the Blade of Marmora was an afterthought. The whole team would gather around the common room and wait for Kolivan to finish giving his progress report. Keith joined in after his new leader was done speaking or would be waiting beside him. Kolivan left them alone for privacy.

 

Hunk was usually the first to break the tension of his absence. If Allura was the heart of Voltron, then Hunk was the soul. His kindness and patience were nearly limitless; he was quicker than Allura to accept Keith’s Galra heritage. Typically, Hunk was the first to get a smile out of Keith, which eased the others to join in.

 

The team tried to get him caught up on all the jokes he missed, Hunk’s new recipes, and training. When Lotor joined, they told him how they were handling working with the wayward prince. Keith and most of the paladins still didn’t trust him, but they need more people with inside knowledge on Zarkon. Lotor wasn’t there for those video calls since unless he wants to taunt Keith. Even then, most of the members make sure for him to know he’s unwelcome in those meetings.

 

Matt would join in also. He remembered Keith from the days back at Galaxy Garrison as the troublemaker and Shiro’s close friend. They discussed how things were going with Matt’s group of rebels. Since Matt joined after Keith left, it was harder for them to talk about current things.

 

Keith would smile softly and listen. When the occasion would call for it, Keith asked more questions, but he usually talked little of his day to day life with the Blade.

 

Then those video calls became less frequent spanning an occasional call every couple of weeks because of more missions on both Voltron’s side and the Blade’s. Preoccupied with other tasks, fewer and fewer members showed up. Pidge, Matt, and Hunk working on a new project to defeat the Galra. Lance keeping Lotor in check.

 

Kolivan told them the information was on a need to know only despite their alliance but continued to update them on the progress. Shiro was the one who stayed to discuss updates while other members of the team weren’t required to be there at those meetings.

 

Sometimes it was Allura or Lance who stayed with him. Lance inquired about his so-called rival, but he was usually away. For all of Lance’s bravado, most of the team could read through his worry.

 

Shiro wondered what Keith was doing. How did his missions go? Was he saving as many lives? Did he miss them? Did he miss him?

 

One of the things they never talk about is Keith’s attempt to kill himself for the cause. Matt filled him in on the details of what happened--how Keith was going to sacrifice himself to save the team and everyone else in the coalition and how the one who saved him was Lotor. Sometimes, Lotor held this against them and snarked at them about how the paladin would rather kill himself than be there. They usually ignore him or Lance argued with him. Once Hunk punched him for those remarks and that usually shuts Lotor up.

 

It was brushed under the rug, like how Pidge is too young to be fighting a war. Most of them were too young to be a soldier, but who else would pilot the lions? Shiro knows he can’t technically judge since he would have done the same to save Keith and the other paladins.

 

When it was just Shiro and Keith, there would be silence for a minute as they stared at one another. Some of the things that wandered through Shiro’s mind were their many quarrels before Keith left. How Shiro never quite apologized to the other for raising his voice and losing his patience. Keith would ask about how he slept when it was just the two of them and if he still had any nightmares.

 

Shiro would tell him about his headaches and his memory loss was still a mystery.

 

Keith held no visible scars, but the times it took for him to crack a smile were more and more difficult. The dark bags under his eyes were just as prominent as Shiro’s own. His skin was also pallid along with his thinning figure. Keith’s guard was still up even among the other paladins, and it took longer for him to relax if at all. It reminded him of when he first met Keith back at the Garrison. Shiro felt pained to see his friend like this.  

 

He wondered how many deaths he saw firsthand and how many the Blade sacrificed for the cause. He witnessed the trials Keith had to face--how psychologically damaging they were. Allura didn’t have jurisdiction to intervene. Shiro wanted to ask if there was any way for him to come back to join the team, but Keith liked being busy.

 

Or maybe Shiro was justifying things. There was more than enough things for him to do in the castle. Matt was busy helping Pidge and Hunk. Coran always needed an extra hand also. Shiro wouldn’t make Keith stay. No matter how worried he was. People had to want to be a part of the team. Not forced to join.

 

However, for selfish reasons sometimes Shiro just wanted his friend back. Even if he had Matt now to lean on also when the others placed too much weight on his shoulders. Just to hear him laugh or have a buddy to train with when he couldn’t sleep.

 

One day while the team was preparing for another ceremony, the alert of an incoming message went off. Kolivan was requesting a video call. This was off schedule, which alarmed them. 

 

“What happened?” Shiro asked first as everyone gathered around to the front of the castle. They were all dressed in their paladin armor with their bayards in hand, ready to leave in their lions.

 

“I’m sorry to inform you,” Kolivan said, his voice monotonous despite the gravity of his words. The Galra only had few emotions ranging from disappointment and anger. Other than that it was a blank report of the facts. “Your paladin, he didn’t make it.”

 


End file.
